I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I sure did. I LOVE the Oregon Coast -- the waves, the wind, the fresh air. Sigh. ;) Also great to be back today. I don't know that the kids are old enough to really appreciate the fresh start of a new trimester, but I truly feel that.

I had a little mix-up with the pre-orders on Diary of Wimpy Kid -- The Third Wheel. I had four names written down, but then a fifth book arrived. Did anyone order one that didn't receive a book? I'm at a loss... Thanks!~Ericaactone@svsd410.org

I was just planning for next week and realized that we are not going to get as far as I had originally thought in math. I had thought we might get through dividing by 2 digit divisors, but it looks like we will only have scratched the surface before Thanksgiving. So...I moved IXL H10 -- again! It's new (and hopefully final) due date is November 30th. ~Ericaactone@svsd410.org

The IXL for this week is H10, which is dividing by 2 digits. This is something that we won't cover in class until Tuesday/Wednesday. While the process is the same as dividing by 2 digits, it will be easier for most students to tackle after classroom instruction. Also, this skill is one that does get much harder as students progress towards mastery which is why there is one skill instead of two. This will probably require at least an hour of time, and most likely more in most cases. Usually I require students to have mastery of the skill to get credit, but this week I will be looking at time spent as well as mastery level. If your student has spent well over an hour and still isn't at mastery I will still give them credit for the week. Don't let them get too frustrated! My recommendation for IXL is always to spread it over a few days instead of all at one chunk. That helps ease frustration and also helps set up good study habits for the future.~Ericaactone@svsd410.org

By the time you (and your kids!) have gotten to 5th grade, you've had a lot of experience with our Standards Based Report card. Unfortunately I've found that there are some inconsistencies, so I want to make sure you know up front how I use the scores. On your child's report card you will probably see a lot of 2s and 3s -- these are the scores that I use the most, especially at the beginning of the 5th grade. A 3 is the target -- we'd like all 5th graders to be performing at grade level. If a student gets all of the questions on a test correct, that would be a 3 because the student has shown that they have learned the concepts that were taught in class. I think some of the confusion comes in over the use of a 4. For a student to get a 4 in an area it is because they are showing that they are performing above the current level of a 5th grader. So 100% on a test is not a 4; a student would need to get the challenges correct or do something extra to show that they are indeed performing above the current level of the class. I know there are other teachers that assign 4s more liberally, so please make sure to communicate with your kids about their scores. We will talk in class as to what the grades mean as well.~Ericaactone@svsd410.org